JANUARY 27, 1997

Williams changes lawyers

WILLIAMS has stopped working with Italian lawyer Roberto Causo and has appointed British solicitor Peter Goodman to represent the team when it faces charges manslaughter charges relating to the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in May 1994.

The 46-year-old lawyer, who works with the Pickworth motor racing solicitors in St Albans, Hertfordshire, will be assisted by Williams's in-house legal expert Stephen Greenway and by Italian Oreste Dominioni.

Goodman regularly oversees Williams contract negotiations - including having a meeting with Michael Schumacher in St Moritz in September 1994.

Causo has stepped down because he is representing the FIA's Roland Bruynseraede and Imola track officials Federico Bendinelli and Giorgio Poggi and we hear he cannot do this if Williams is planning to blame the accident on the bumps on the race track...